signed out @ 35:37. Too many cliches, and most not that well done. I take Double Indemnity as the standard for older Noirs....and this all-too-predictable yakfest isn't in the same universe.

There is much to love about this film and I do agree with previous positive reviews. However, watching as a pilot, there’s a big problem with the story. No pilot would land on such a foggy night with zero/zero conditions! Zero/zero means no visibility and no ceiling, i.e. cloud cover all the way down to the runway. Surely the pilot would have told Brown he could not expect to be met at the airport. So the last scene doesn’t make much sense. Brown and the others should not have been there at all.

This movie was breath taking from beginning to end. I never saw any one play a villain so magnificently not Bogart, Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Marlon Brando; absolutely no one. This was truly a signature Film Noir. Plan on watching it again, somewhere down the road.
Hakuna

Some of the opinions expressed in this review may be somewhat naive, or even heretical, but they are also unencumbered by overabundant familiarity with the subject matter. The overall look and feel of the movie is everything we know and love about Film Noir. David Raksin's score with its tidy transitions and plaintive saxophone melodies fit like an elegant Italian leather glove. My bête noire, so to speak, of this Film Noir classic, is the storyline and conjugally much of the dialogue. I do realize that the film industry of that era is more like the auto industry than it is like today's film industry, but the story comes across as thrown together, disjointed, cliché, incredulous, and sort of stupid. I thought the performances by most everyone in the cast were quite good, but these were marred by the often inane dialogue they were given. There were a few interesting subtexts woven in such as the homosexual relationship between Mr. Brown's top two henchmen. I also detect some racial incitement with the villain's name (Brown) and his desire to devour this milk-fed, upper-middle-class blond ingenue, and drive her to suicide. Without spoiling, let me just add that if that were me at the airstrip when the cops show up, and my girl shone the spotlight from my car (which is illegal and non-sensical to have if you're not a medical doctor) onto me, I would have shot that bitch, and the light!

The supporting cast made the film! Familiar faces:Earl Holliman, Lee Van Cleef, and Brian Donlevy all portrayed fine characters in very good forn. Jean Wallace also played above average as the moll. The story was better than average.

A sharper copy is here.

You misunderstand, J. B. Susan Lowell isn't stupid and she isn't greedy. She is wealthy in her own right. She was seduced by Mr. Brown as a young woman and now she is scared to death of his (as is his ex-wife). Brown keeps Susan under constant surveillance by his gunsels.

The cop is in love with Susan, which it seems to me interferes with his ability to think clearly about the case. There is no indication that he is working with God or any other deity. The subject never comes up in the film. You are reading God into it, but then I suspect you read God into everything.

The Poilicer Officer did not give up and God therefore worked with him to expose the criminal. This movie also shows how stupid and gullible women can be in the worship of money. It is a grave shame that countless women can be sleeping with criminals for the love of cloths, etc. They are all hell-bound.

Nearly everything what can be said about this marvellous movie has been said already in the previous reviews, so I only add that I never saw Richard Conte mor impressive. He is absolutely great as a villain. Torturing the police lieutenant by letting him hear a drum solo, stealing his second in command Brian Donlevy his hearing device so that he can´t hear . . .: wonderful ideas! Yes, Cornel Wilde is sometimes lame and it is not only because of his role as straightforward policeman. It would not have worked the other way round (Richard Conte as Policelieutenant and Wilde as gangsterboss, I mean).

Great story,excellent acting. This is an outstanding movie.

The only crime (to my knowledge) of this film was that nobody ever put the Theme song onto wax and released it on the charts. KUDOS David Raksin!

I liked the film. (Reminds me a bit of a Tarantino film, in the sense that there's a very bad guy there and some nasty things going on; though I pitied him at the end.)

(Oh, I've just noticed that the reviewer bellow me mentioned Tarantino :-)

Normally I don't comment on other reviews, and only comment on the movie. But I found myself distracted by anticipation of lines mentioned in an earlier review (The review states:
"these lines and many more make this a noir classic"), yet those lines never came.

The review states:
"Jean wallace to mr diamond "i like it when he kisses me 'all over'".
But I didn't find that line. The movie did offer a scene more daring than any I've seen come out of Production Code Hollywood: Mr. Brown's kiss begins on the cheek and works its way down until, somewhere below her hips, his head disappears. This one scene explains more about the moll's relationship with Mr. Brown than all dialog combined. As the stripper that the cop uses as a sperm bank explains: "a woman doesn't care how a man makes his living, only how he makes love".

The review states:
"I'm tired of eating salami"
The actual line is:
"I can't swallow any more salami"

And to echo other reviews: this flick is a hidden noir gem. The villain, Mr. Brown (also the name of Quentin Tarantino's character in "Reservoir Dogs"), spits his lines like a machine gun (same way that Martin Scorcese speaks). Every chance he gets, he verbally bitch-slaps his second-in-command. He tortures the terminally square cop ("a righteous man") by forcing him to listen to a "real crazy" drum solo. This is one *bad* dude.

Sure, the performances of Wilde and Wallace are wooden and lame, and the editor could have cut out a lot of repetition, but one thing makes me overlook its flaws: this flick is dark, dark, dark...

The cinematography is spectacular in these old B+W films, Superb lighting, angles and composition. Directors today couldn't hold a match to this era, back when Artistry was part of the procedure.
The ending shots were fantastic. If only more folks could appreciate this era of Film art.
4/5

The story seemed clichéd as did the dialog at times, and the plot was predictable. The acting was fine and the music really set the tone for the film. The ending was very well done.

I downloaded the DivX file, which is really an AVI. It was recorded off TV (the TCM logo appears now and then), so video quality is only fair and looks grainy. The audio was clear.

The music really set the tone for the movie from the beginning. Great story,excellent acting from everyone. Once is not enough. This is a great find. I rate this Five Stars

This film is now in the top 10, make that top 5 noir films I have ever seen. From it's look, to it's dialog to some incredible performances this is one outstanding movie.

Watch this one, and I bet you end up sending the link to pals so they can watch it, too.

It is not an easy ride. The torture scene of the cop is strong stuff, the two killers appear to be gay, the cop in love with the gangster's moll is obsessed - this is twisted, dark noir at it best. So much better than it had to be.

They just don't make movies like this anymore; if they did, it would be full of sex & violence who knows what else. This movie lets your imagination fill in the "blanks". What a cast!!

Richard Conte,Brian Donlevy,Lee van Cleef,Earl Holliman,Jean Wallace;whats not to like about these dudes."I'm tired of eating salami", says earl to lee,when the two 'pals' are hiding out in a cellar."I'll break you so fast you wont have time to change your pants".also jean wallace to mr diamond "i like it when he kisses me 'all over'".these lines and many more make this a noir classic.